Our take: With disappointing rewards and a shrunken welcome bonus, the $650 Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card forces you to make use of up its advantages to justify the eye-watering annual price.
Fortunately these advantages are fairly wealthy, starting from a $300 eating assertion credit score to Platinum Elite standing to at least one free night time every year. Jetset Marriott loyalists shouldn’t have any bother getting over $1,000 in worth from the cardboard’s advantages every year, however the much less hardcore amongst us ought to most likely follow a general-purpose journey rewards card just like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® as an alternative.
Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card
Intro Bonus
Earn 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus factors after you full $6,000 or extra in eligible purchases throughout the first six months of opening the account.
Annual price | $650 |
Common APR | 20.99%–29.99% variable |
Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card Overview
Card kind: Hotel, Travel Rewards
The Marriott Bonvoy Good card is heavy steel – each actually and figuratively.
For starters, it instructions a hardcore, headbanging $650 annual price. However in the event you’re keen to pay the value, you’ll get a mosh pit value of advantages.
There’s a $300 eating assertion credit score, $100 for a TSA Precheck or International Entry software price, a $100 low cost for stays of two nights or extra at The Ritz or St. Regis, prompt Platinum Elite standing, Precedence Cross Choose for you and two company at over 1,200 airport lounges (enrollment required), a free night time value as much as 85,000 factors (roughly $765 in worth) in your account anniversary and a lot extra.
Toss in a 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus factors after you full $6,000 or extra in eligible purchases throughout the first six months of opening the account-point welcome bonus redeemable for roughly$855 value in the direction of Marriott stays and you’ve got a powerful total worth proposition for Marriott die-hards.
That stated, the rewards themselves are about as heavy steel as an ABBA reunion tour. 6X on Marriott, 3X on eating and flights and 2X on every little thing else is fairly soft-rock for a card charging $650 a yr, so that you’ll want to make use of up all your advantages to get essentially the most worth from this expensive backstage move.
Who’s the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card good for?
The Bonvoy Good card’s eye-popping $650 price is a take a look at for the lodge chain’s most loyal patrons. Should you’re the form of one who’s on first-name foundation with the bartender on the St. Regis, considers airport lounge entry an absolute necessity and cherishes reaching Titanium standing this yr, then the Bonvoy Good card might be a match.
Who shouldn’t get the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card?
As showcased by $100 assertion credit score to Marriott’s most costly properties and the $60,000 spending threshold for an Earned Selection Award, the Bonvoy Good card is designed to reward excessive net-worth clientele who already get pleasure from an upscale journey life-style. Heck, the cardboard’s personal three-word pitch on Marriott.com is “unlock luxurious experiences.”
So in the event you’re on the lookout for a Marriott card that’s extra of a money-saver than a life-style amplifier, you’re on the lookout for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit score Card. The cardboard comes with a five-night welcome bonus (with the one caveat being they will “solely” be value as much as 50,000 factors per night time) and matches the Good card’s base 6X on Marriott stays. Certain, you gained’t get a $300 eating assertion credit score with the much less hardcore card – however the annual price is slashed down to only $95.
Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card: The right way to earn rewards
The Marriott Bonvoy Good gives the next methods to earn rewards:
- 6X factors on Marriott purchases
- 3X factors at eating places worldwide and flights booked instantly with airways
- 2X factors on all different eligible purchases
You’ll have observed that Amex markets an earnings potential of “as much as 21X” with this card, however right here’s how that breaks down:
- Earn 6X for reserving along with your Marriott Bonvoy Good card
- Earn as much as an extra 10X for being a free Marriott Bonvoy member (most, but not all properties qualify)
- Earn an extra 5X for having Platinum Elite standing, included with the cardboard
Within the wonderful print, Marriott Bonvoy additionally clarifies that the 5X you get for reaching Platinum Elite and the “50% Bonus Factors on Stays” are the identical factor.
At first look, a mere 6X could seem stingy for a $650 rewards card (each the $550 Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the $395 Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card provide 10X on lodge bookings made by their respective issuers), but it surely’s vital to do not forget that basically, you’ll be able to solely earn that top of a rewards charge by reserving instantly with the lodge. Meaning in the event you e book a Marriott property by the Chase portal, you’ll earn 10X from Chase however not 10X from Marriott.
The Marriott Bonvoy Good means that you can earn each, which is how one can stack rewards as much as 21X.
The cardboard additionally gives 95,000.
The right way to redeem Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card rewards
Understand that if you’re utilizing your Marriott Bonvoy Good card you’re incomes Marriott Bonvoy factors – not Amex Membership Rewards factors. That signifies that sadly, each the worth of your factors and your redemption choices have some limitations.
Numerous estimates pin the worth of a single Marriott Bonvoy Rewards level at roughly 0.9 cents when utilized in the direction of a Marriott keep and 0.8 cents or much less in the direction of different redemption choices. As an example their wimpy worth within the better factors economic system, Marriott Bonvoy Rewards switch to most of Marriott’s 39 airline companions at a dismal 3:1 ratio.
So that you’ll most likely need to save your hard-earned factors for future Marriott stays. For reference, listed here are all your redemption choices:
- Resort stays, upgrades and different purchases at Marriott properties
- Flights and rental automobiles with over 250 journey companions (direct, not through factors switch)
- Cruises booked by Marriott Bonvoy’s Cruise With Factors program
- Transfers to 40 airline companions (most at a 3:1 points-to-mile ratio)
- Buying for headphones, style, present playing cards and many others.
- Marriott Bonvoy Moments aka choose eating, live performance and sports activities experiences
- TSA Precheck for 25,000 factors (which you most likely gained’t want given the $100 credit score)
- Items or donations to charities or different members
Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card charges and costs
As anticipated for a card that prices $650 a yr, the Marriott Bonvoy Good has no introductory APR nor any form of stability switch incentive.
- Annual price: $650
- Overseas transaction price: None
- Common APR: 20.99%–29.99% variable
Be ready to pay that annual price in full when it hits your assertion, as a result of with an APR as excessive as 29.99% you undoubtedly don’t need to be carrying a stability on the Marriott Bonvoy Good card.
To view charges and costs of the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card Card, see rates and fees.
Further advantages
The Marriott Bonvoy Good card has advantages in spades. All advised they could possibly be value properly over $1,000, and most of them reset each calendar yr so there’s an incentive to maintain paying the $650 annual price.
The advantages are additionally fairlyeasy to money in. There’s no $200 off a $1,500 Peloton right here – in the event you eat out as soon as a month and keep at The Ritz for 3 nights you’ll have already used roughly $1,200 value of your annual advantages. And in the event you and two company hit a Precedence Cross lounge within the airport, that’s one other $170 saved.
- $300 eating assertion credit score (as much as $25 per 30 days) on any buy that codes as a “restaurant” in your assertion, which could possibly be something from a espresso store to dinner on the Ritz.
- 1 free night time award yearly after your card renewal month (award can be utilized for one night time redemption stage at or underneath 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors at lodges taking part in Marriott Bonvoy®).
- Platinum Elite standing which nets you 50% extra factors on purchases, complimentary room upgrades (when accessible), 4pm late checkout, devoted help, a welcome present at check-in and extra.
- Software price credit score for International Entry or TSA Precheck, refunding you as much as $100 of your software price each 4 years for International Entry and as much as $85 each 4.5 years for TSA Precheck.
- Earned alternative award after spending $60,000 in a calendar yr. Choices embrace 5 Nightly Improve Awards, a $1,000 mattress low cost from Marriott Retail Manufacturers, and a free night time award with a redemption worth as much as 85,000 factors
- $100 Marriott Bonvoy Property Credit score for qualifying prices at The Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis if you e book instantly utilizing a particular charge for a minimal two-night keep.
- 25 Elite Evening Credit so that you’re solely 50 away from Titanium standing subsequent yr.
- Complimentary Precedence Cross Choose with enrollment to over 1,200 airport lounges for you and as much as two company (limitless entry memberships are normally $469 a yr)
- Premium Web Entry throughout every of your Marriott stays.
Bank cards much like Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card
We’ve beforehand talked about this card’s principal rival – the Chase Sapphire Reserve – so let’s go forward and do a extra strong head-to-head comparability. And whereas we’re at it, let’s examine the Marriott Bonvoy Good card to its $250 sibling – the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy – to see which is the higher total worth.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® vs. Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card
In our full evaluate of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card we gave it kudos for having a listing of advantages longer than an encore model of Freebird – and we weren’t kidding.
Simply to start out, you’ll earn 10x factors on lodges and automobile leases if you buy journey by Chase Final Rewards® (when you spend $300 on journey), 5X on flights, 3x factors on different journey and eating and 10X on Lyft. You’ll additionally get a versatile journey credit score for as much as $300 yearly, Precedence Cross Choose membership, entry to the rising Sapphire lounge community, a TSA PreCheck or International Entry software price credit score and free premium memberships galore to Lyft, DoorDash, Instacard, Chase’s Luxurious Resort & Resort Assortment and extra.
Regardless of all this tasty goodness, nevertheless, the Reserve simply can’t sustain with the Good when it comes to producing Marriott factors. As talked about, to attain 10X you need to e book by the Chase Final Rewards website which negates the 10X you’d get on the Marriott aspect. You possibly can e book instantly with Marriott however you’d solely get 3X with the Sapphire Reserve card. So in the event you really need the utmost quantity Marriott factors, the Good continues to be the winner.
Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Specific® Card vs. Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card
Slotted between the $95 Boundless and the $650 Good is the $250 Marriott Bonvoy Bevy. It gives a nearly-as-good 85,000-point welcome bonus, and earns 6X on Marriott spending, 4X factors at eating places worldwide and U.S. supermarkets (on as much as $15,000 in mixed purchases at eating places and U.S. supermarkets per calendar yr, then 2X factors), and 2X factors on all different eligible purchases. You’ll additionally get 1,000 bonus factors per keep, prompt Gold Elite standing, a free night time after spending $15,000 and 15 Elite Evening credit per yr in the direction of larger standing.
However as you’ll be able to see, the Bevy gives far fewer advantages than the Good, and Marriott loyalists may have no bother in any respect bridging the $400 distinction between the 2 playing cards. Heck, the Good card’s one free reward night time is value as much as 85,000 factors in worth alone, to not point out the annual $300 eating assertion credit score that ought to be comparatively easy to make use of..
So in the event you’re a plane-hopping Marriott loyalist who can abdomen seeing $650 on their very first assertion, the Good would be the extra rewarding card in the long term.
Is the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card best for you?
A lot of the Marriott Bonvoy Good’s worth comes from its advantages. From a $300 eating assertion credit score to a free award night time value as much as 85,000 factors, the cardboard gives loads of methods to make up for its $650 annual price.
So one of the best ways to know if the Marriott Bonvoy Good card is best for you is to scan its listing of advantages. Should you go down the listing and assume “Yeah, I’ll undoubtedly use that…and that… and that…” then the cardboard might be a match.
But when you end up considering “Ooo, I’ll need to set a reminder to make use of that” or “Hmm… I most likely can’t afford a two-night keep at The Ritz this yr,” then the cardboard might be not for you.
As a result of it’s all the time finest to make the cardboard match the approach to life—not the opposite approach round.
Ceaselessly requested questions
What credit score rating do you want for the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card?
Amex doesn’t publish a required FICO Rating for its playing cards, however contemplating that is an elite-tier journey rewards card, you’ll conservatively want a 700 to use. Understand that issuers contemplate a wide range of monetary components and never simply your credit score rating when reviewing your software.
How a lot is the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card’s annual price?
The annual price for the Marriott Bonvoy Good card is $650.
Is the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card a steel card?
The Marriott Bonvoy Good card is a steel card. It’s good and weighty—and much more sturdy—than a plastic card.
Please word that card particulars are correct as of the publish date, however are topic to alter at any time on the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the cardboard issuer to confirm charges, charges, and advantages earlier than making use of.
Phrases apply to American Specific advantages and gives. Enrollment could also be required for choose American Specific advantages and gives. Go to americanexpress.com to be taught extra.
Eligibility and Profit stage varies by Card. Phrases, Circumstances, and Limitations Apply. Please go to americanexpress.com/advantages information for extra particulars. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Firm.